The delivery of drugs through the skin ("transdermal drug delivery" or "TDD") provides many advantages; primarily, such a means of delivery is a comfortable, convenient and non-invasive way of administering drugs. The variable rates of absorption and metabolism encountered in oral treatment are avoided, and other inherent inconveniences--e.g., gastrointestinal irritation and the like--are eliminated as well. Transdermal drug delivery also makes possible a high degree of control over blood concentrations of any particular drug.
Skin is a structurally complex, relatively impermeable membrane. Molecules moving from the environment into and through intact skin must first penetrate the stratum corneum and any material on its surface. They must then penetrate the viable epidermis, the papillary dermis, and the capillary walls into the blood stream or lymph channels. To be so absorbed, molecules must overcome a different resistance to penetration in each type of tissue. Transport across the skin membrane is thus a complex phenomenon. However, it is the stratum corneum, a layer approximately 5-15 micrometers thick over most of the body, which presents the primary barrier to absorption of topical compositions or transdermally administered drugs. It is believed to be the high degree of keratinization within its cells as well as their dense packing and cementation by ordered, semicrystalline lipids which create in many cases a substantially impermeable barrier to drug penetration. Applicability of transdermal drug delivery is thus presently limited, because the skin is such an excellent barrier to the ingress of topically applied materials. For example, many of the new peptides and proteins now produced as a result of the biotechnology revolution cannot be delivered across the skin in sufficient quantities due to their naturally low rates of skin permeability.
Various methods have been used to increase skin permeability, and in particular to increase the permeability of the stratum corneum (i.e., so as to achieve enhanced penetration, through the skin, of the drug to be administered transdermally). The primary focus has been on the use of chemical enhancers, i.e., wherein drug is coadministered with a penetration enhancing agent (or "permeation enhancer"). While such compounds are effective in increasing the rate at which drug is delivered through the skin, there are drawbacks with many permeation enhancers which limit their use. For example, many permeation enhancers are associated with deleterious effects on the skin (e.g., irritation). In addition, control of drug delivery with chemical enhancement can be quite difficult.
Iontophoresis has also been used to increase the permeability of skin to drugs, and involves (1) the application of an external electric field, and (2) topical delivery of an ionized form of drug (or of a neutral drug carried with the water flux associated with ion transport, i.e., via "electroosmosis"). While permeation enhancement via iontophoresis has, as with chemical enhancers, been effective, there are problems with control of drug delivery and the degree of irreversible skin damage induced by the transmembrane passage of current.
The presently disclosed and claimed method involves the use of ultrasound to decrease the barrier function of the stratum corneum and thus increase the rate at which a drug may be delivered through the skin. "Ultrasound" is defined as mechanical pressure waves with frequencies above 20,000 Hz (see, e.g., H. Lutz et al., Manual of Ultrasound: 1. Basic Physical and Technical Principles (Berlin: Springer-Verlag, 1984)).
As discussed by P. Tyle et al. in Pharmaceutical Research 6(5):355-361 (1989), drug penetration achieved via "sonophoresis" (the movement of drugs through skin under the influence of an ultrasonic perturbation; see D. M. Skauen and G. M. Zentner, Int. J. Pharmaceutics 20:235-245 (1984)), is believed to result from thermal, mechanical and chemical alteration of biological tissues by the applied ultrasonic waves. Unlike iontophoresis, the risk of skin damage appears to be low.
Applications of ultrasound to drug delivery have been discussed in the literature. See, for example: P. Tyle et al., supra (which provides an overview of sonophoresis); S. Miyazaki et al., J. Pharm. Pharmacol. 40:716-717 (1988) (controlled release of insulin from a polymer implant using ultrasound): J.. Kost et al., Proceed. Intern. Symp. Control. Rel. Bioact. Mater. 16(141):294-295 (1989) (overview of the effect of ultrasound on the permeability of human skin and synthetic membranes); H. Benson et al., Physical Therapy 69(2):113-118 (1989) (effect of ultrasound on the percutaneous absorption of benzydamine); E. Novak, Arch. Phys. Medicine & Rehab. 45:231-232 (1964) (enhanced penetration of lidocaine through intact skin using ultrasound); J. E. Griffin et al., Amer. J. Phys. Medicine 44(1):20-25 (1965) (ultrasonic penetration of cortisol into pig tissue); J. E. Griffin et al., J. Amer. Phys. Therapy Assoc. 46:18-26 (1966) (overview of the use of ultrasonic energy in drug therapy); J. E. Griffin et al., Phys. Therapy 47(7):594-601 (1967) (ultrasonic penetration of hydrocortisone); J. E. Griffin et al., Phys. Therapy 48(12):1336-1344 (1968) (ultrasonic penetration of cortisol into pig tissue); J. E. Griffin et al., Amer. J. Phys. Medicine 51(2):62-72 (1972) (same); J. C. McElnay, Int. J. Pharmaceutics 40:105-110 (1987) (the effect of ultrasound on the percutaneous absorption of fluocinolone acetonide); and C. Escoffier et al., Bioeng. Skin 2:87-94 (1986) (in vitro study of the velocity of ultrasound in skin).
In addition to the aforementioned art, Kost et al. U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,767,402 and 4,780,212 relate specifically to the use of specific frequencies of ultrasound to enhance the rate of permeation of a drug through human skin or through a synthetic membrane.
While the application of ultrasound in conjunction with drug delivery is thus known, results have for the most part been disappointing, i.e., enhancement of skin permeability has been relatively low.